SISTER – DISGUISED VULTURES

(Out Jan 21st on Metal Blade)WHEN YOUR BAND NAME SOUNDS LIKE A FEMINIST SITCOM – full of ‘Ain’t dat the troof!’ and ‘How you doin’!’ clichéd quotes – it might be best to draw an inverted cross on your forehead, apply mascara very badly and wear a furry waistcoat or a leather jacket with no shirt underneath. Luckily, Sister have followed said advice and the overall look is nothing short of obscenely camp. ‘You know it sister!’.

Their video for lead single ‘Sick’ depicts simulated depraved sex scenes whilst wearing pig masks and vomiting blood. Much better. This approach is supposed to be disgraceful, shocking and controversial, and 20 years ago it probably would have been, but trying to outrage a cynical Grand Theft Auto generation with a crimson-splattered Goth orgy is a difficult task. Maybe these antics will cause outrage in the band’s homeland of Sweden, with its musical history steeped in Benny and Björn, but it just brings to mind the great Dennis Pennis quote; “ABBA videos are like all good Swedish videos, the men have beards and the women are clean shaven.”

Despite their best efforts to avert your attention from their music, Sister have scavenged together a half-decent offering in Disguised Vultures. ‘You go girl!’. Opening track ‘My Enemy’ abruptly starts with what sounds like the bridge section from another song, in fact it’s so unlike an intro that, were you not listening to it in its mp3 format, you might be checking that the CD hadn’t jumped. The dirty tracks sleaze their way through Disguised Vultures with only slight variation until its somewhat appropriately titled concluding track ‘Please Kill Me’. On the whole the vultures might enjoy feeding on the rotting flesh of this album, but their disguises are little more than cries for attention. (6)SIMON BUNTER